Chapter 493: Juyoung Hong (20)

Basically, Middle Eastern oil is cheap because its quality is slightly inferior to the most representative crude oil, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) or North Sea Brent oil.

But it wasn’t a big deal. When it comes to crude oil refining capacity, Myongjin and other Korean oil refining companies are among the best in the world.

The problem was that no matter how excellent their crude oil refining capabilities were, it was useless without any crude oil.

In any case, the emergency meeting held at the Myongjin Group headquarters ended without any specific solution.

But this was not a problem Myongjin faced alone because there were other oil refineries in South Korea.

In the Mirae Group headquarters.

“You mean we can’t find any solution?”

“No, sir. No matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t. Moreover, Iran seemed to view the turmoil in Saudi Arabia as an opportunity. That’s why they dispatched additional naval forces to increase the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.”

“I met Crown Prince Mohamdad Van Salman through my ties with the royal family of Saudi Arabia. But this time I could not persuade them at all…”

“As you know, Iran is supporting the Houthis rebels in Yemen, who were blamed for the recent terrorist attacks, so as the leader of the Sunnis, the Saudi Arabian government will never let Iran off the hook this time because Iran is the leader of their sworn enemy, the Shiites.”

In the end, they had a heated debate, but could not come up with any proper solution.

Of course, the Mirae Group moved faster than all the other top business groups like Myongjin, Daesung and Kusan, because they were the best among them.

But they still encountered the same problem.

“We inquired with Hazcal Shipping and Trans Ocean Shipping to rent new oil tankers, but they are asking us for more than three times the usual price.”

“We sent our staff to the United States, Russia, and Europe to obtain crude oil, but we could not purchase even a drop of crude oil because their oil contracts were already full from as early as three months ago.”

“The price of crude oil in the black market has soared more than five times, so it is impossible for us to make any profits with that price. Besides, we can’t secure enough crude oil.”

Anyway, not only Myongjin but also Mirae, Daesung, Hanil Energy, Maseok Caltex, and the Korean government worked together to find the solution, but there was no solution to be found. All they could do was hope that the Iranian government could lift its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz as soon as possible.

Of course, Japan, the major importer of crude oil from the Middle East, was in the same situation as Korea.

***

At the US Embassy in Jongno-gu, Seoul very early in the morning.

Tramp- Tramp-

It was normally crowded during the day for visa matters, but it was quite early in the morning. So I slowly walked towards the US Embassy.

When I stood before the fully locked iron gate, it opened immediately as I was invited by a top US national security official.

When I stepped inside the US Embassy, a guide appeared, so I followed him down to the third floor of the basement.

There I encountered a group of people, and the one in the middle walked out a few steps toward me and opened his mouth.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Anderson, Director of the US National Intelligence Service.”

“I’m Juyoung Hong.”

If this had been an official meeting, I would have greeted them formally.

But I encountered them in the early morning with them spying on me and my surroundings without permission.

So I deliberately didn’t pay due respects to them.

Of course, US National Intelligence Service Director Anderson did not show any particular displeasure.

“Please come this way.”

They may have some business with me, and I also have something to say, so I followed Director Anderson again.Then I entered a space that seemingly looked like an underground bunker. Only then did I sit across Director Anderson.

First of all, I opened my mouth.

“Was it through a satellite?”

I didn’t mean to hide it, but nor did I want to reveal it.

Still, if they found me through a certain electronic device, I thought it was a satellite.

“Yes, that’s right. Of course, it was quite by accident that we noticed your movement.”

“I see,” I said, nodding gently at his reply.

Since I expected it, I wasn’t surprised by his reply.

While I was talking with him, I had one question.

From the viewpoint of the United States, they must be most curious about my capabilities, or my identity, and that’s why they had tried to spy on me.

Nonetheless, Director Anderson didn’t ask me about it at all.

Instead, he asked me lots of irrelevant questions.

Of course, I didn’t have to mention it first because he didn’t ask me, but I soon realized why he wanted to see me.

“It looks like the Myongjin Group, and even South Korea has lots of headaches these days.”

“Really” I casually replied.

He continued, “South Korea imports oil mostly from the Middle East, right? But Iran has blocked the Strait of Hormuz and Saudi Arabia was hit by a spate of terrorism attacks…”

Actually, I was aware of the situation because my father and brother agonized over that matter when they came back from work. They constantly contacted people abroad.

Of course, the United States was able to solve it as it has done in the past.

But I am an exception as well, because I think I can solve the problem.

So I planned to head to the Middle East by myself because the quickest and surest solution is for Iran to lift the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

If that happens, Myongjin can import oil from Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates rather than Saudi Arabia.

Then the United States intervened all of a sudden. Of course, that didn’t matter.

But the problem was that the US made a wrong judgement.

Thump! Thump!

First of all, I lifted my feet, and slammed the floor.

A loud noise resonated out to the long hallway.

After confirming it, I said, “No, maybe not. How can a top official like you come alone with me to this enclosed space? How can I believe it? All the people I’ve met before were like you.”

“…”

The guy who introduced himself as Director Anderson was dumbfounded.

I continued, “Bomb? Oh, perhaps you can use a nuclear bomb. Well, I understand your position because you don’t like me, an unexpected variable, who appeared all of a sudden.”

Having said that, I stood up, then I approached the completely blocked wall and poked my hand towards it to tear it apart.

But my hands could not penetrate the wall. Instead, the whole wall rebounded slightly when my hand touched it.

“Uh? What the heck is this? This isn’t just a wall.”

“Well, you will never be able to break it. Even if a nuclear bomb explodes here, it won’t break the wall.”

Hearing that, I clenched my fist and slammed the wall.

Slam! Slam!

But it didn’t even scratch the wall, and only caused it to oscillate more than before.

“Wow, let me admit the power of the United States. Honestly I don’t really like what the US does, but I have no choice but to admit the power of you guys if you have made this wall.”

I didn’t hit the wall jokingly. I hit it with my full force.

I hit it with my fist first, then spread my fingers to hit again with a more destructive power.